At the age of 25, Chivas USA left back Jonathan Bornstein is finally leaving home.

Well, OK, Bornstein hasn’t actually lived with his parents since he was 17.

But the Torrance-born, long-time Los Alamitos resident, who played college soccer at Cal Poly Pomona and UCLA and joined Carson-based Chivas USA in 2006 as a fourth-round draft pick, hasn’t had to venture far from the home he grew up in for his chosen career.

In fact, the U.S. international still lives less than 10 blocks away, while his grandfather, two brothers and an uncle all work at family-owned Applespice Junction, a Compton- based catering company that’s a short punt from Home Depot Center.

But now Bornstein – the son of a Mexican mother and American father – is leaving to play next year for Mexico’s Tigres UANL in Monterrey. He will play his final two games for Chivas USA this week, bidding farewell to Southern California soccer Saturday at Home Depot Center against Chicago.

“I’m ready for that new challenge, that new experience, the change in lifestyle and ultimately learning about the culture and finally the soccer,” he said. “I’m just really looking forward to playing in that league and getting better as a player.

“It’s come to a time in my life where I’m about ready to do that,” Bornstein added. “I never shied away from moving away – it’s just the opportunities that arose for me in terms of where to go play for college, in terms of playing professionally, were within the general location of Southern California.”

Soccer in Southern California has been good to Bornstein. He was MLS Rookie of the Year in 2006, scored on his national team debut at Home Depot Center in January 2007 and this year, as a regular for the U.S., made the World Cup roster. Along the way he became Chivas USA’s all-time leader in games played and starts.

Bornstein could have left earlier in the season, but chose to remain loyal to the 8-16-4 club during what he knew would be a challenging rebuilding season under a new coach and without many of the veterans he had played with since his rookie season.

Bornstein joins a succession of young Americans who have turned a Chivas USA apprenticeship into a career overseas, including goalkeeper Brad Guzan (now with England’s Aston Villa) and Sacha Kljestan (who left this year for Belgium’s Anderlecht).

Come the new year, he will exchange modest Home Depot Center, usually about half-full for Chivas USA games, for the crowds of 40,000-plus that are customary at Tigres.

“It’s tougher to get up for a game when there’s 10,000 people in the stands and it looks empty than it is for a game where there’s 30,000 or 50,000 or 60,000,” he said. “Tigres sells out every game. I’m really looking forward to that – it’s really motivating.”

While Chivas USA plays its meaningless finale, the Galaxy plays the last MLS game at 5 p.m. Sunday in Carson with considerably more on the line – the regular-season title.

Win against Dallas – who saw a 19-game unbeaten streak snapped Saturday by Real Salt Lake – and the Galaxy secure home-field advantage in the playoffs and automatic entry to the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League next season.

With the Galaxy heading into the weekend one point ahead of RSL in the Western Conference, even a tie could be enough to take the title, assuming Salt Lake loses to Colorado the night before. However, Real Salt Lake holds the edge in tiebreakers. So if the Galaxy lose again and RSL and the Rapids tie, the title would head to Utah.

And the Galaxy have a history this year of choking in big games.

On Saturday they lost to the Rapids in Carson when a win would have wrapped up the Supporters’ Shield.

Last month they lost at home to New York in front of a capacity crowd in a highly anticipated game that featured two designated players on each team.

The Galaxy don’t want to make it a third high-profile dud in a row – especially at the last hurdle – to a team that has spent much of the season chasing the Galaxy.

The pressure seems to be taking its toll on coach Bruce Arena.

“We’re 27 weeks in and it hasn’t been perfect, but we’ve been in first place for 27 weeks so write all the crap you want, good or bad, I don’t really care,” Arena told the assembled media earlier this month.

And that was after the Galaxy’s narrow 2-1 win over Chivas USA.

He was back at it Saturday after the 3-1 loss to the Rapids when asked what caused the defeat.

“Oh, they scored three goals,” Arena said sarcastically. “When they find another way to decide who wins and loses games, that’s important. Until they change the rules I think it’s the team with the most goals wins. And that was the case tonight.”

Um, OK.

One can only wonder what choice phrases Arena will employ if last year’s losing MLS Cup finalists loses out to last year’s defending champion yet again.

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